You Only Find It Once
by EmLovesYouu
Summary: "Which meant he could walk around, caught up in his thoughts, and not have to worry about getting run into by a bike. However, while bikes were excluded, half-naked attractive men were not." - Klaine AU.
1. Part I

**Hey everyone! I'm back again with another klaine fic, however this one will be multiple chapters **cue applause**. This is AU, set in the Summer before Kurt's senior year. A big thanks to **TeegyBee, **my wonderful cousin who is also the author of an AMAZING klaine fic, who gave me the idea for this story.**

**So without further adieu, I present you with: You Only Find It Once.**

**ENJOY!**

**... **

For a high school student, the Summer holidays are a really important time. It's the time when you've finished all of your exams and classes from the year before, but are not yet at the stage where you need to begin on the work for the year ahead. For Kurt, about to head into his final year of high schooling, this time was _especially_ important. It is the last time he'll be at home without the worries of school before he heads off for college; and as much as he craves to get out of his small, homophobic hometown, this final Summer means a lot to him. Which is why he was not at all impressed when his Dad and Carole announced they were taking him and Finn on their - probably last - family vacation. And as horrible as just a standard vacation sounded, it was made worse at the realisation that they were going to be staying in what is described as a resort (but couldn't be any more luxurious than a caravan park) in a town about 4 hours away that he'd never before heard of in his life.

"But why, Dad? Did you not think that maybe I'd want to spend my last Summer in Ohio with my friends?" Kurt grumbled.

"Look Kurt. I know you're pissed at me, but this is the last chance we're gonna get to go away as a family. I mean, next Summer you're heading off to New York, and Finn, well he's gonna go off and do whatever it is he's gonna do. Come one, it's only one week," Burt pleaded, "and then you can go off and spend as much time with your friends as you like?"

Sighing in defeat, Kurt said, "fine! I'll go on this one trip, but I will _not_ be sleeping in a tent; _or_ showering with a bucket."

Chuckling, Burt replied, "we're not camping in the bush, Kurt. We'll be in a cabin, with proper beds, and a kitchen, and a lounge room, and running water."

"Good. I'll start packing then," Kurt said as he stood and began to make his way to his room.

"We don't leave for another five days, you know."

"Exactly my point," Kurt called back over his shoulder, as he disappeared around the corner.

_**...**_

"Finn, is it really necessary to sit with your legs spread so far apart?" Kurt complained, after once again getting squashed against the inside of the car.

"Sorry," Finn mumbled, returning his attention to his phone; presumable texting Rachel again.

If one thing was obvious, it was that Kurt did not like long car trips. He remembered all too well long trips in the car as a kid that resulted in him bending over on the side of the road, feeling as though his stomach had been through a blender. Although he'd learnt over the years how to avoid feeling sick, car trips still annoyed him to no end; especially when he was stuck in the back seat next to a six foot tall giant who didn't understand the concept of keeping within the space of his own seat.

Glancing at the time on his phone, expecting at least an hour to have passed since he last checked, Kurt almost groaned out loud at the realisation it had only been twenty minutes. He'd already listened to his _music to make the car trip more bearable_ playlist once through; as he pressed 'play' again, Kurt muttered under his breath, only loud enough for him to hear, "two and a half hours to go, woo."

_**...**_

As much as Kurt hated to admit it, the 'resort' was actually really nice. Their cabin only had two rooms, so him and Finn had to share, but at least it had two single beds so they didn't have to fight over bunks. It had the usual park facilities; a games room, kitchens (although they had one in their cabin), and there was even a lake that actually looked rather inviting.

On the way back from the laundry, having just washed a pile of clothes that Finn had managed to drop in a puddle of mud within the first two hours of arriving, Kurt decided that one of the things he liked most about this place was that there weren't kids running around like crazy every which way you looked; meaning he could walk around, caught up in his thoughts, and not have to worry about getting run into by a bike.

However, while bikes were excluded, half-naked attractive men were not.

The pile of freshly-washed and folded clothes that he was previously holding was now scattered across the pavement, but Kurt hardly noticed because standing before him was a boy, who couldn't be any older than him, who was in the process of putting on a shirt. If Kurt had ever been unsure of his sexuality, he definitely wasn't anymore.

"Crap, sorry! My shirt was tangled and I wasn't concentrating on where I was going -" the boy apologised, but then stopped when he noticed Kurt's stunned demeanour.

Finally drawing his eyes away from the boy's torso, and a very fine torso at that, Kurt realised he should probably say something. "No." And should probably elaborate to not seem like an ineloquent moron. "No, it's fine. I wasn't watching where I was going either."

Pulling his t-shirt on the rest of the way, much to Kurt's disappointment, the boy stepped forward and said, "here, let me help you pick this up."

It took Kurt a moment to register that the boy was referring to his washing, which he had pretty much forgotten about. Bending down, the pair picked up the clothes; the boy folding them roughly before handing them back to Kurt.

"Thanks," Kurt smiled sheepishly.

Shaking his head, the boy smiled, "you don't need to thank me. It was the least I could do considering I'm the reason they went flying all over the place.

"Still, thank you." After a moment of silence passed between them, Kurt remembered that the others were waiting for him to get back so they could go for a walk into town. "Hey, I'm really sorry, but my Dad and that are actually waiting for me so that we can go out -"

"No, no. Go, that's fine," the boy said hurriedly.

His lips curling up in a smile, Kurt gave a small wave in goodbye and said, "I guess I'll see you around," and turned to leave.

"Hey, hold on a second!" the boy said quickly, taking a few steps towards him.

When Kurt turned back around, he was expecting to see the boy holding another item of laundry that they'd missed. Not at all did he expect to see him standing not two inches away, hands moving to cup his face and bring their lips together.

Pulling away far too quickly, the boy flashed him a heartbreakingly gorgeous smile and said contently, "it was _really_ great meeting you," before walking off in the opposite direction.

…

**And we come to the end of the first chapter! Please review and let me know what you thought of it – and be sure to stay tuned for the next chapter.**

**Em xoxo**


	2. Part II

**Here we are everyone with chapter two! Thanks so much for the great response I got for the first chapter – I really hope you liked it. So, I'm headed into a super busy time at school at the moment, so the next few weeks are gonna be kinda crazy, so I don't know when I'll be able to update next.**

**Anyway, here you go :) **

…

"...what do you think, Kurt?"

At the sound of his name, Kurt refocused his attention on the dinner table conversation. "Pardon?"

"There's this hiking trail we were maybe gonna have a look at tomorrow. How about it?" Finn repeated, his mouth full of mashed potato.

His dad must have sensed his hesitation, because before he had a chance to speak, Burt interjected, "before you say no, remember how much you loved going on hikes when you were a kid? You wouldn't shut up the whole way there, and the whole way back, until you fell asleep on the ride home, that is."

As much as Kurt wanted to stick to his plan of hanging around the park all day with the hope of possibly running into – not intentionally, of course – a particular attractive boy whose name he'd forgotten to ask, Kurt replied, "yeah, I guess."

"Great! Isn't it nice to do things as a family?" Carole smiled, grasping Burt's hand in her own. "So, what did you boys get up to today?"

_Ran into a ridiculously handsome boy_, Kurt thought to himself. _Flirted with said handsome boy. Had my first kiss; which was just as _amazing_ as I'd always envisioned it. Then spent my whole afternoon pining after him, constantly pinching myself to check that I wasn't asleep back in my bed in Lima_.

"Did you know that there's a rope swing next to the river?" Finn said excitedly. "Remember, Mum, when we used to stay at that place when I was a kid and it has a rope swing, but they ended up taking it down 'cause some kid hit their head or something? It's _just_ like that! I'm so gonna go down there tomorrow after our walk."

"How about you, Kurt? Get up to anything fun?" Carole asked.

"Oh, um," _no_, Kurt told himself, _don't tell them, don't tell them._ "Nothing much. I mostly just walked around having a look at the place. Could I be excused? Mercedes and Sam had an argument today and I promised I'd give her a call tonight; she's a bit worked up about it."

"Yeah, that's fine, kid. Just put your plate in the sink," Burt smiled, pleasantly surprised at Kurt's happy mood; having expected their first dinner to consist of Kurt grumbling about how unsanitary the place was.

…

"Hey there," Kurt said into his phone as Mercedes answered.

"Oh, boy, why'd you have to go away on the _one_ day I needed you?"

"I'm sorry. How are you doing?"

"Ugh, I'm a mess – it's so embarrassing! I mean, it wasn't that bad a fight, I don't know why I can't stop crying. It's stupid, I'm just overreacting," Mercedes said, trying to put on a brave front, though the bubble in her throat gave her away.

"Oh, you're not overreacting. This is the first big fight you guys have had, you're not wrong to be a little shaken up," Kurt comforted.

"I guess... oh, why are you so good at all of this relationship stuff? I mean, you've never even been in a relationship, but you still give the best advice out of _every_ one of my friends!"

"Who knows, Mercedes; I'm fabulous," Kurt replied, laying down on his bed, unable to stop the grin appearing on his face as he said, "although, that may be about to change."

"Yeah, yeah... wait, what? Kurt Hummel, you tell me what you meant by that right now!" she demanded, the sorrow in her voice gone almost instantly.

"It's not really that important..."

"Kurt..."

"Okay. So this really attractive boy _might_ have kissed me today," Kurt said, unable to contain the sheer joy he was feeling; he was surprised no one had questioned him about his happy mood at dinner.

"Oh my gosh, Kurt! Where?"

"Oh, you know, just on the lips."

And after that came _a lot_ of squealing and demanding of details, and the intended reason for their call was completely forgotten.

…

"Hey, Kurt. Remember last term in glee club when Mr Shue wanted us to sing that song, the really old one from that musical, and no one wanted to, so none of us showed up to practice the next day?" Finn asked, turning his head to look at Kurt, who was walking along the trail behind him.

"Could you be a little more specific? There's a lot of old songs from musicals..."

"I don't remember the song. I just remembered skipping glee – that was a really fun day, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it was," Kurt said distractedly, agreeing with his step-brother even though he didn't actually know what he was talking about.

Kurt had been distracted all day. They'd left at about eleven o'clock that morning, but the whole morning before that he'd been on red alert; whipping his head around whenever he heard someone walk past their cabin, hoping it was _him_. It never was.

Perhaps if he'd been paying more attention to where he was going and had actually listening to what Finn had been saying when he warned him about a muddy slope coming around the next corner, what happened next could have possibly been avoided.

As Kurt rounded the next corner, which was beginning to go down hill again, he lost his footing on a branch stuck in the thick layer of mud coating their path. Before he could do anything to stop it, Kurt had fallen and begun sliding down the slope, bringing Finn down with him.

"Kurt!" Finn exclaimed as he untangled himself from the muddy mess that was him and Kurt.

"Me? How was that my fault?" Kurt exclaimed, trying to avoid looking down at his clothes after seeing the state of Finn's.

"How is it not? You're the one who fell and pulled me down with you," Finn protested, picking a clump of mud off of his basketball shorts and wiping it on a tree nearby. "Oh man, look at my clothes!"

"Your clothes? _Your _clothes?"

…

"I still don't understand why you get to use our shower and I have to use the public ones?" Kurt complained on the other side of the locked bathroom door; the bathroom which Finn was currently occupying.

After a moment, the door opened slightly and Finn poked his head out, a smirk plastered on his face, "well, firstly, you're the one who pulled us down into the mud, so there's that. And secondly, you don't have to use the public ones... you could just use this one after me, but I think I might be awhile, you know, gotta wash my hair, shave..."

"Argh, I hate you, Finn Hudson!"

By the time, Kurt got to the public shower stalls, the sun was almost down and the mud was solidly dried to his clothes. Turning on his shower and allowing the water to heat up, Kurt removed his clothes, not even bothering to fold them as he would normally do; _the mud has probably ruined them anyway_.

Stepping under the stream of steaming hot water, Kurt scrubbed the dried clumps of mud from his skin; his gratefulness of a shower never having been so strong. Just as Kurt was rinsing out his shampoo, he heard it. A voice. Singing.

_You make me, feel like I'm living a, teenage dream..._

Kurt stood there silently, listening to the boy sing. He was so intrigued by the voice that it took him a good minute before he realised that his water was now running cold. Shutting off the faucet, Kurt heard one of the taps out in the bathroom turn on, and then off again a moment later. The singing had stopped, but no one else had come in, so it had to be the boy who was singing...

Unable to resist, Kurt moved to the door of his shower cubicle and peaked through the gap between the door and the rest of the cubicle. And boy, was he unprepared for the sight he saw.

…

**There we go! Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for the next chapter. And review review review!**

**Em xoxo**


	3. Part III

**Hey guys! And we're back with another chapter! So, my mid-year exams are over (thank the lord) and now I finally have time to actually write and do something other than study – yay!**

**This one picks up right after the last one left off...**

**Enjoy!**

…

_Unable to resist, Kurt moved to the door of his shower cubicle and peaked through the gap between the door and the rest of the cubicle. And boy, was he unprepared for the sight he saw._

…

Stepping back and sitting down on the small bench in his shower stall, Kurt could do nothing but sit there in silence.

Okay, so when Kurt had run into him yesterday, he had been so flustered and stunned that he'd _literally_ just run into someone and that his freshly washed clothes were now strewn all over the place, that he had not been able to appreciate the shirtless boy stringing out apologies in front of him. I mean, he'd appreciated the sight, sure; but he hadn't really _appreciated___it as much as he should have. Five seconds ago, Kurt had believed the brief glimpse he'd caught of this shirtless boy would be satisfying enough if he were never see him again. But now – _God_ – that brief glimpse was _nothing_ compared to what he'd just seen.

Standing in front of the mirror and basin was none other than _that boy_. Not only was that boy shirtless, but he was still wet from his shower and had only a towel around his waist – and thw two of those combined did wonders for his body.

Leaning back over to the gap next to the door, still remaining seated, Kurt once again found himself ogling the boy.

No. Kurt had not been prepared for this.

He was tanned. He had muscles. His curly black hair was even more attractive wet than it was dry. His eyes were beautiful. His face was beautiful. His entire body was beautiful. Who was he kidding; he was probably the most attractive person he'd ever had the chance of meeting.

But he had kissed Kurt.

_Either I'm just so shocked by the fact that a boy kissed me, _chose_ to kiss me, that my mind is making me believe that he is insanely attractive and in reality he actually has acne, buck teeth and a mullet_, Kurt thought to himself. _Or perhaps the boy just really needs to get his eyes checked, because surely a boy who looks like _that_ would not kiss me. That stuff just doesn't happen. Not to me._

Deciding it was probably really creepy to stare at a half-naked boy through the gap in a shower door without them knowing, Kurt stood up to resume drying himself and get dressed.

However, when Kurt went to pull his clean pants from his pile of clothes on the seat, he knocked his shampoo off the shelf in the process; which then proceeded to slide out beneath his cubicle door and out into the main bathroom.

_Shit!_

Before he could decide between staying in here until the boy left, and _then_ collecting it, or quickly getting dressed and going out there, knowing he would have to constantly chastise himself for mentally undressing him, the boy said, "Umm, excuse me? I think you just dropped your shampoo."

A moment later, he could hear footsteps as the boy bent down to pick up the bottle, and Kurt realised that he should probably say something.

"Did you want me to just slide it under your door?" he spoke again.

"Uh, yes. Thank you," Kurt replied, his voice a bit off. A moment later, his shampoo bottle came sliding into his cubicle, resting next to his foot. "Thanks."

"No problem," the boy replied cheerfully.

It was not long after that that he heard the boy leave, leaving Kurt with less to to be distracted by, however his mind was still in overdrive.

_Perhaps public bathrooms aren't so bad._

…

He had hardly gotten any sleep last night; partly because the beds were not the comfiest of furniture, and partly because he could not stop thinking about his encounter in the bathroom the night before.

When he woke up, he found a note placed on the table next to his bed. Recognising his step-mum's handwriting, Kurt read:

_Gone into town to get a few things and didn't want to wake you. There's some eggs in _

_ the cupboard if you want to make something, but otherwise, milk's in the fridge._

_ Carole xo_

Looking at the time and noting that it was almost midday; _Crap! Had I really slept in that late?_; Kurt opted against breakfast and decided to try and find a quiet spot somewhere to read instead.

…

"To Kill A Mockingbird? Fine choice," a voice said from beside Kurt, startling him.

Taking note of the page he was on, Kurt put down his book before turning to see who had interrupted him; although even after only two conversations, there really wasn't a need to do so.

It was him. Looking as charming as ever; but disappointingly wearing a shirt this time.

"I thought I'd found a good hiding place here, but apparently my hiding skills aren't sharp as they used to be," Kurt said jokingly, looking around at the small alcove he'd found in amongst some trees as the boy sat down beside him.

"Perhaps it's not that you're hiding skills have deteriorated, but just that my seeking skills are exceptional?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"You make quite a good point..." Kurt paused. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name..."

The boy's eyes lit up slightly, as he wiped his hands on his shorts and held one out in front of him. "Of course. Blaine. Blaine Anderson."

Mimicking his movements and clasping their hands together, he introduced himself, "Kurt Hummel. It's lovely to officially meet you, Blaine Anderson."

"Likewise."

It turned out that Blaine was also vacationing here with his parents from Ohio, however his parents were largely work-oriented, so he was pretty much just hanging around the park on his own. It surprised Kurt how much he immediately liked Blaine. Of course having been kissed by him two days previous had been quite a contributor, he found that they actually had a lot in common and he did genuinely like him.

"...and then Cooper moved to LA, so we don't really see him much."

"Hey, um. I just wanted to ask...the other day when...you know..." Kurt trailed off, entirely unsure of how he should word this, "...you kissed me. Why?"

"Ah," Blaine sighed, looking both excited and embarrassed. "Well, that was a small part in something that I call the **'Spontaneity Agreement'**."

"The Spontaneity Agreement? And that's an agreement with who exactly?" he asked, not having expected the turn in conversation.

"Myself," he replied, then continued to explain probably having noticed the confusion evident on Kurt's face. "It's this thing that I decided to do, where I have to do one spontaneous thing a month. To keep life exciting, you know."

"So kissing me was your one spontaneous thing this month?"

"Yes! Although, that could also be interchangeable with my bucket list. So I kind of hit two birds with one stone."

"And what exactly was on your bucket list, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Number thirty-seven; kiss a cute boy," Blaine said before flashing Kurt a smile that he was sure would be ingrained into his memory until the day he died.

…

**And we're at the end of this chapter. Hope you liked it, if you did, don't forget to review :)**

**Em xoxo**


	4. Part IV

**I just wanted to thank you all for the wonderful response I have gotten to this story – I am continually amazed that people actually enjoy reading what I write! This chapter is quite a lot of dialogue, so I apologise for that (unless you like dialogue, then woohoo!) and it is also kinda short, but I wanted to get something up.**

**My tumblr is emlovessid . tumblr . com - so come on over and say hi :)**

**Well, here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

…

"You _performed_ in a _GAP _store?" Kurt gasped, unable to restrain the smile spreading out on his lips.

Laughing, Blaine replied, "okay, I admit, it wasn't one of my finest moments. But in my defence, the hype surrounding Valentine's Day was clouding my judgement."

"Okay, okay. So that was February...what about March? Surely your spontaneity couldn't beat serenading someone in a clothing store..." Kurt asked eagerly, unconsciously adjusting his position so he was ever so slightly closer to Blaine.

"Haha, no, I don't think anything I've ever done in my entire life could beat that... March... oh, yeah, March! That was an interesting month, um, I kind of bought these pants I'd been wanting for ages, which were..."

But Kurt couldn't understand the end of his sentence as Blaine's voice became muffled.

"Pardon? I didn't catch that end part there with you cowering in your shame," he joked.

"... they were $400."

"Blaine! You spent $400 on a pair of pants?" Kurt said shocked, playfully slapping Blaine on the shoulder. He paused for a moment, before continuing, "did they at least look good?"

A smile toying at his lips, Blaine looked back up at Kurt and sighed, "they looked _amazing_!"

"Then at least they were worth it. Okay, April?"

"Ah, April was probably my favourite. I taught myself to play the guitar. I mean, it was pretty easy to pick up because Mum had me in violin lessons by the time I was six, and I've been playing since then. But whenever I mentioned wanting to pick up the guitar, my Dad would say no and that I needed to stay focused on violin. So on the last day of April at about ten minutes before midnight I decided, 'who cares what he thinks' and then bought a guitar on Ebay," Blaine said. "Of course, I had to play in secret for a while, knowing Dad wouldn't approve, but I ended up telling him just a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't too happy but -"

Blaine stopped speaking and then just looked at Kurt, who was currently looking at him with an unrecognisable look in his eyes and his lips not quite closed together.

"Kurt, are you okay? Kurt?"

"Oh, sorry! My mind was off wandering for a moment there," Kurt said with a chuckle, a slight blush spreading up his neck and then onto his cheeks.

"Are you sure? You look a little flustered, or something..."

"I'm fine, really. Although, I _do_ need to get back. Dad and Carole are expecting me to be back by lunch," Kurt smiled, the blush on his cheeks still there, as he stood to look down at Blaine.

"Seriously? You're really going to leave me hanging here, without knowing what I said that put that cute little blush on your cheeks?"

"Who says it was something that you said?" Kurt smiled, before turning on his heel and walking back towards his cabin. After a few moments, he stopped and then turned back to find Blaine still sitting exactly where he'd left him. Blaine looked up with joy in his face as Kurt called to him, "meet me back here at seven."

…

"Hey Kurt, where're you going?" Burt asked from the couch, having noticed Kurt walking towards the door.

Seeming a little startled, Kurt turned and looked at his dad, before saying, "when I was out this morning I had a couple of my books in my bag, and now I can't find To Kill A Mockingbird, so I'm just gonna go out for a bit and retrace my steps. I shouldn't be too long, but assuming I find it, I might hang around outside and read it a bit more, you know, make the most of this weather while it lasts."

"Okay, just make sure if you're gonna be too long that you pop in and let us know?"

"Yeah, of course. Bye," Kurt called, closing the wired-door behind him.

One of the things Kurt loved greatest about the Summer is that it stays somewhat light for hours had later than usual. By the time he reached what he had internally named "their spot", it was just past seven and Blaine was nowhere to be seen.

Kurt was just placing his bag down next to one of the large oak trees when two hands clasped down on his shoulders, causing him to jump slightly.

"God, Blaine. You almost gave me a heart attack!" he breathed, twisting to be met with one of Blaine's too wide smiles.

"All I can say is that it serves you right, for leaving me hanging back here this afternoon. Now, are you going to tell me what it was that I said or not?"

Kurt found himself smiling at the memory of that morning. "Hmm, I dunno..."

"Oh really?" Blaine asked, his fingers closing around Kurt's wrists and pulling him a little closer.

"Yeah," Kurt whispered, the pressure Blaine was applying to his wrists making his head spin. "I think..."

"'Cause I think I know a way that I could possibly change your mind..."

"I don't think you could," Kurt said quietly, trying to keep his breathing steady, "and anyway, wouldn't that step over the line of 'one thing per month'?"

Blaine shrugged, his face so close to Kurt's that he could feel Blaine's breath intermingling with his own. "It's my agreement; I made the rules, I can change them just as easily. Are you going to tell me yet?"

"Uh, maybe?"

"So, what was it exactly that I said that left you all flustered and shy?" Blaine asked one final time, his hands moving to grip Kurt's waist.

"Everything. You just – oh God, this is gonna sound so corny!" Kurt said, hiding his face in his hands.

"I bet that it probably won't," Blaine said, the look in his eyes so sincere that Kurt swore, if asked, he would spill every single secret he's ever had to him.

"It's just, with all the stuff about your violin and teaching yourself the guitar, and the GAP attack, and those _$400 pants_!" Kurt sighed, "I mean, I know I've only known you for what - three days – but I honestly think that you are the man of my dreams."

…

**I know you're going to hate me but I just enjoy cliffhangers _far_ too much for my own good. But please review and let me know what you thought! **

**Em xo**


	5. Part V

**Okay, so I guess I should probably apologise... after updating the last chapter I got stuck as to where to go next, and then I went away for a week and a half and had no access to the internet other than on my phone. And then by the time I got back, I still had no idea where I wanted to go, but I came up with this!**

**Also, from now on, the updates may be further apart, so I'm apologising in advance. I'm just entering the final stretch of year 12 (for you non-Aussies, I'm half way through my final year of high school. Senior year?) so school is just going to get crazier and way more stressful. But I'll try and update when I can (I am quite talented at procrastinating), so I want to thank you if you decide to stick with this. Anyway, enough of my rambling, here's the next chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

…**.**

Sometimes in life, you meet someone and within five minutes of speaking to one another, you already know that you'll be great friends. Whether it be an interest in the same kind of films or books, or you simply just 'click', there is that instant connection where you think to yourself, "How on Earth have we never met until today?" And from that moment onwards, you honestly cannot imagine where you would be had you not met them.

That's what it was like for Kurt.

From the moment he accidentally ran into Blaine outside the caravan park laundromat, he was intrigued; not just by the beauty he saw in him, but by the essence he carried around with him that he didn't care what anyone else thought of him. For someone like Kurt, who had to fight to remain who he was rather than to give in to what was deemed 'acceptable' on a daily basis, to find someone who practically _screamed_, "This is me, and nothing you say can change that!" was a near miracle.

_Good friends_, Kurt had thought to himself as Blaine had helped him retrieve his washing from the ground. _ We could definitely be good friends. _

But then he'd kissed him.

_Okay, changed my mind..._ more _than good friends._

And the next thing he knew, he was sitting against a partially hollowed-out tree, having lied to his dad about his whereabouts, confessing his innermost feelings for Blaine _to _Blaine. Had someone warned him a week, or even a day, before that he would reveal so much about himself to – practically – a stranger, Kurt would not have believed it. Either that, or he would have curled up into a ball in embarrassment.

It was these thoughts of the night before, that lulled Kurt to sleep, a smile on his face expressing nothing but sheer joy.

…**.**

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Had he not just been woken momentarily by a very loud snore of Finn's, he would have missed it; quiet enough that one could dismiss it as just the breeze or a small bird, but still loud enough that if one listened for it, they would be able to pick it up as being intentional.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

This time Kurt was certain that it was not just a small rock falling from the roof, tapping on the window ledge on its way down; there was something tapping purposely on his window. Kurt had never been one to scare easily; sure, he always jumped a little when the murderer in scary movies appeared suddenly from around a corner (who doesn't?); but he'd never been afraid of the dark, or noises at night time, or the Boogeyman. However, in a different room that wasn't his own, in a different _house_ that wasn't his own, hearing something specifically tap on his window multiple times at one in the morning gave him an unsettling feeling in his stomach.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Pushing back his covers and stepping out of his bed quietly so as not to wake Finn – if the tapping turned out to be a murderer trying to lure him from the room, Finn's bed was close enough that Kurt could pull his covers off to wake him up – Kurt crept slowly over to the window which was right at the end of his bed.

Bracing himself, Kurt reached to pull back the curtain.

_Tap. Tap. T-_

It took every ounce of Kurt's self-control not to let out a scream when he was met with a pair of bright eyes staring back at him. Although, while he was able to contain his scream, he was not so successful at holding in his sigh, followed by a probably-too-loud-for-one-in-the-morning "oh, thank the freaking lord!"

Hearing a quiet laugh from outside, Kurt glanced back to the window to once again be met with the pair of eyes, who he had now realised were Blaine's. Kurt shrugged his shoulders questionably, a furrowed look on his brow, as if to say, _what are you doing here?_ He didn't need to be asked twice when Blaine beckoned him outside with a small movement of his finger, double checking that Finn had not been woken up, before practically lunging towards the bedroom door.

Shutting the front door to their cabin extremely carefully, Kurt met Blaine at the bottom of the stairs.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt whispered, trying to sound accusatory, but failing because the excitement in his voice clouded everything else.

Holding out his hand for Kurt to take, Blaine grinned, "Come with me. I have a surprise for you!"

…**.**

**And there we go! Really hope you liked it, and sorry again for making you guys wait for so long. Oh, and I wasn't sure if it was clear or not, but the end of this chapter is set the night after where the last chapter ended.**

**Thanks so much for reading, and pretty please review if you liked it!**

**Em xoxo**


	6. Part VI

**Hey, this one picks up right from where the last one stopped. **

**Aaand, I apologise for the (really reaally long) wait, but school doesn't seem to understand that I'd prefer to be doing things other than studying **sigh****

**So, my exams are over in 73 days (yay!) and I have to ask, would you prefer for me to wait to update another chapter until exams are over so that there isn't insanely long waits between them, or would you like me to just update when I can?**

**But anyway, back to the story! (If you've forgotten, Blaine is taking Kurt to a "surprise" in the middle of the night... oooh, what could it be?)**

….

"Blaine," Kurt whispered, shuffling his slipper-covered feet to keep up with a very excited, almost skipping, Blaine. "Can you _please_ tell me where we're going?"

"Yes, I could. But it wouldn't be a surprise then would it?" Blaine laughed.

In normal circumstances, Kurt would have been mortified to be out in public dressed the way he was currently; cotton pyjama pants, a grey hoodie and his ugg boots. However, the circumstances he was in were anything but normal. What is normal about walking hand-in-hand with a boy you've known only a few days in the middle of the night, headed off to some secret location that you don't know of? But it _felt_ right. It felt _normal_; like it was something he'd been doing his entire life. It felt as though his whole life had been leading up to this moment, the moment where everything finally fell into place. So, Kurt was not embarrassed of how he was dressed. Instead, he was confused.

He had no idea where Blaine was taking him. Given the fact that he barely knew Blaine, he could be leading him to his death for all he knew. But he still felt safe, regardless. There was something about the glisten in Blaine's eyes whenever he turned to meet Kurt's glance, the slight skip in his step that gave away his excitement, the way that he too was clad only in pyjamas, that was somewhat reassuring. He could trust Blaine.

Thinking about it, he probably should have left a note or something. Knowing his luck, his dad would probably wake up and randomly have the urge to check on him and Finn, and then realise he wasn't there. Oh, he would get into so much trouble.

"Hey, do you reckon I should go back and leave a note for my dad or-" Kurt said before being interrupted by Blaine turning around to face him, pressing his finger to Kurt's parted lips.

"Does your dad usually wake up in the night?"

"No."

"Would he have any reason, if he were to wake up, to check on you?"

"Probably not, no. But-"

"Then stop worrying," Blaine said, taking his hand again and flashing him a reassuring smile. "And anyway, our destination is just around the corner anyway."

Once they began walking again, Kurt asked, "so, is this another part of your _spontaneity __agreement_?"

"No, I only have one of those per month. And, as you know, I already used this month's up. This is just non-agreement spontaneity."

Kurt laughed, "you do realise that makes no sense, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Blaine said as he stopped walking. "And we have reached our destination. After you?" Blaine waved his arm as he stepped aside, revealing a slightly rotting wooden gate hiding in amongst hedges.

Kurt stepped forward and pulled down on the metal handle, a loud creak breaking the silence of the still night, startling them both.

What Kurt saw once he stepped through the gate made his jaw drop. They were in what looked like a garden. The walls were made of hedges, secluding them from the outside world. Around the edges of the garden were old-fashioned steel benches, solar lights interspersed between each one. But what amazed him the most were the small structures littered across the expanse of the garden. There was a giant birdhouse, garden gnomes, a windmill; all set up like they were forming a maze.

Blaine watched Kurt as he took in his surroundings.

"Now, one can't go on holidays without playing mini golf, can they?" Blaine smiled, walking over to a wooden box to their left and retrieving two clubs.

…**.**

After a game in which Blaine won, but Kurt swore was rigged, the pair sat down beside each other, sitting cross-legged with their backs against the birdhouse on hole 8.

"You know," Kurt started, looking over at Blaine. "Some people would consider this a date..."

"Well it is quite romantic, isn't it? Mini golf by moonlight?" Blaine chuckled, seeming quite proud of himself. "And it could be, if you wanted it to... a date, I mean."

Kurt couldn't help but notice the blush that was creeping up on Blaine's cheek, even in the dim light. Although, he wished he hadn't noticed, because just the sight made his heartbeat quicken.

"And if I did want it to be?" Kurt asked sheepishly, feeling entirely out of his comfort zone.

"Then, umm..." Kurt watched Blaine's Adam's apple move up and then down as he swallowed. "...then now would be the time where I'd do this."

And then Kurt's heart literally stopped. Because Blaine was kissing him. And this wasn't a kiss of spontaneity, not like their first one. It was so much more. There was feeling to it, because this time they weren't just two strangers, they _knew_ each other. Kurt had never been kissed before, not before Blaine, but it didn't really matter because he was_ kissing Blaine_ and he was so overwhelmed with joy and passion and, dare he say it, _love?_, that he was physically incapable of thinking of anything else other than the fact that Blaine was kissing him, that Blaine's _tongue_ was in _his mouth_! It was so overwhelming, but Kurt never wanted it to end.

If Kurt was asked what was the best moment of his life, there and then, _that_ would have been the answer. Blaine. Meeting Blaine. Being with Blaine. Kissing Blaine. Just Blaine.

And to think that he hadn't wanted to go on this trip.

…**.**

**There we go! Another chapter down :) **

**I made another tumblr by the way. It's not fandom-based, but has lots of cupcakes and fairy lights and other pretty things like that! It's: prettythingsthatmakeyousmile . tumblr . com – check it out if you like :)**

**And remember, REVIEW!**

**Em xoxo**


	7. Part VII

**I'm back again! **

**So I've always hated parent-teacher interviews and my mum still makes me go every time, and I had my very last one ever last night, and as I was walking back to the car afterwards I tripped down some stairs and twisted my ankle :( which meant that I couldn't go to dancing, but gave me extra time to write yayy!**

**But yes, here you go, enjoy!**

…**.**

"Okay," Kurt sighed, moving away slightly, but his body still pressed up against a large majority of Blaine's. "I should _really_ get back now. It's nearly – crap, it's 2:30! No, seriously, my dad will actually kill me if he gets up and I'm not in bed."

Blaine groaned in disappointment, knowing just as much as Kurt did that they would both be in deep, _deep_ trouble if they were caught out of bed in the middle of the night.

"I'll see you tomorrow though, right?" Kurt asked hopefully, a gleam in his eyes.

"That's a bit of a stupid question..." Blaine said, leaning in to capture Kurt's lips once again. "_Of course_, I couldn't stay away if I tried."

"Good."

"How about we meet at our tree and we can have lunch? I can bring food and drinks and stuff."

_We have a tree?!_ Kurt exclaimed internally, barely able to contain his sheer happiness. Instead he said sheepishly with a smile, "I'd love to."

A small peck on the lips turned into many small pecks on the lips, and before either boy knew it, another fifteen minutes has passed.

"You should really be getting inside now," Blaine whispered, pulling his lips away from Kurt's, still remaining close enough that their breath intermingled. "But I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow seems so far away though," Kurt said with a slight pout.

Blaine chuckled under his breath, trying to keep as quiet as possible because Kurt's parents were sleeping only mere metres away from their position on the front step. "Technically it already is tomorrow – well, today, I guess. So just think of it that way."

"Okay, I can't wait," Kurt said, his eyes filled with a mixture of excitement and sorrow. After leaning in quickly for a soft kiss that lingered a little longer than was intended, Kurt crept back up the front steps and slipped inside.

A wave of relief flooded over him when he silently climbed back into his bed to find that Finn was still in as deep a sleep as he'd left him.

"_Kurt_," he heard in a very faint whisper, and instantly his smile grew. Pulling back the curtains, there stood Blaine, indicating for him to open his window. Being as lovestruck as he was, Kurt complied.

"Blaine?" Kurt half questioned and half laughed.

And then Blaine's lips were on his again; nothing too passionate, but short and sweet. It must have been a funny sight if anyone had been observing them; Kurt half hanging out the window in an attempt to be closer to Blaine, and Blaine standing on one of the rocks in the garden to keep their kiss lingering for as long as possible.

Blaine pulled back with a large grin spread across his face, his lips slightly swollen and his eyes gleaming. "Goodnight, Kurt."

"Goodnight, Blaine."

…**.**

"Hey Kurt?" Finn said during breakfast the next morning. "A couple of guys I met yesterday were heading into town today and I was gonna go with them. You don't mind do you? I mean, you can come with us if you like, but they're probably just going to be looking at-"

"Finn! It's fine, really. I was just gonna go down by the lake and read or something today anyway. Soak up a bit of sun."

"Awesome. Well, have fun reading dude."

By the time Kurt reached _their tree_ at just before noon, his excitement was almost boiling over. He and Blaine had kissed. Multiple times. And it had been amazing. He didn't even know how to describe it. In all the romantic movies he'd watched and all the times he'd had to sit in Glee club and watch various couples lock lips, he'd never once been able to imagine that being him. But now it was. And that was all he wanted to do. If everything became frozen in time, and all he would ever be able to do again for the rest of eternity was kiss Blaine, there would be not one complaint heard from Kurt Hummel.

"Hey you," Kurt heard from behind him.

He didn't even have a chance to notice the backpack Blaine was carrying or the picnic rug that was tucked neatly under his arm before he wrapped his arms around Blaine's shoulders and kissed him in greeting.

"Hello to you too," Kurt said against Blaine's lips, physically unable to contain the smile that was creeping onto his face.

…**.**

"I don't mean to sound all sappy or anything, but this has literally been the best week of my entire life. I mean, I know I'm only sixteen, but I have never been so happy as I have been when I'm with you," Blaine said, looking up at Kurt, squinting to see him through the sunlight.

Glancing down at Blaine's head resting on his knees, Kurt brushed a stray curl from his forehead and replied with all honesty, "I know exactly what you mean."

"And I feel so cheated because I've been looking for you for what feels like forever, and now I've finally found you, and then I'm leaving tomorrow."

"But we can still stay in touch? Look at it this way; I've already got my license, you can get yours when you get back, and Lima and Westerville aren't _that_ far apart. It'll be a bit of a pain having to drive and meet somewhere just to see each other, but we'll be seeing each other, and that's better than the alternative, right? I assume I'm speaking for you here, as well as myself, when I say that I'm probably willing to do whatever I have to do to stay in touch with you. If that means that I have to drive a couple of hours to see you, so be it. Even if I only get to see you once a month, while it's not ideal, it's better than nothing. And I can't lose you. So I'd prefer to go with _something_ rather than _nothing_."

"I'm willing to do anything. Hell, I don't even care if we don't meet halfway and I have to drive all the way to Lima. I'll do it. I will," Blaine said with a look of such sincerity in his eyes that Kurt couldn't help but feel like the luckiest person in the world.

Leaning down to kiss him again, Kurt tried to convey as much meaning through the kiss as possible. His lips tasted like coffee and strawberries and chocolate, and they were as soft and lovely as they had been the night before. Even though it was ridiculous and probably foolish and far _far _too soon, Kurt honestly believed he was well and truly falling in love with Blaine; this spontaneous, curly-haired boy he met on a holiday he'd never wanted to go on. Even if he could only convey a fraction of that feeling through his kiss, that would be enough.

…**.**

It was later that night that it happened. Probably around ten o'clock, although he couldn't be entirely sure. That afternoon he'd agreed to meet with Blaine one last time the next day before he had to head back to Westerville. He was dreading it, but at the same time, he couldn't wait.

It was later that night when Kurt heard a noise from the master bedroom, a shout from Carole telling them to call 911; his dad was having a heart attack.

…**.**

**Please don't kill me! I compensated for the cliffhanger with an extra long chapter for you guys, so I hope you enjoyed. As you can probably tell, its going to start getting a little angsty from here on out, so come prepared. But if it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty much incapable of writing non-happy endings; I only ever did once, and I don't even remember writing it, and it was terrible and heartbreaking and I'm never going to go there again.**

**I'll try not to keep you guys waiting for too long, but as I've said, _exams_ :(**

**Anyway, please REVIEW and let me know what you thought!**

**Em xoxo**


	8. Part VIII

**Yay, I'm back again! So this chapter is kind of a filler, not much actual plot line involved, but eh?**

**Hope you enjoy! :)**

…**.**

There had been many times in Kurt Hummel's life when he'd thought he might lose his dad.

This first time – the first he could remember, anyway – he was probably only five or six. It was October and him and his dad had gone to Walmart to buy some last minute Halloween decorations. Getting stuff ready for Halloween was usually his and his mum's thing, but she hadn't been feeling too well the last couple of days and Kurt had insisted that they just couldn't wait any longer. So him and his dad had gone off to Walmart, just the two of them.

He'd spotted a really good looking pumpkin the next aisle down while his dad was trying to remember what fake spiderwebs his mum usually buys. He'd run over to it, unable to believe that he'd found the perfect on so quickly; his mum would be so proud of him when he got home. He picked up the pumpkin, glancing around to make sure that it wasn't a mean trick being played on him and someone was actual going to jump our and snatch it from him. But when he got back to the decorations area, his dad wasn't there.

His dad was gone.

_If you ever get lost, just stay where you are..._ his mum's words ran through his head.

So he stood there in amongst the fake spiders and the vampire costumes, clutching onto his pumpkin like his life depended on it. He probably last about two minutes before he started to cry. He could see people looking at him as they walked past, but only one lady stopped.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" she'd asked as she started to approach him.

But then she'd been pushed away and his dad was running towards him and enveloping him a hug.

"Kurt, don't scare me like that again!"

"I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I just – wanted – to get – the pumpkin."

He'd held onto his dad's hand in a death grip for the rest of that day.

The next time he thought he'd lose him not not even a year later. Turns out that Halloween his mum hadn't been just regular sick, because she never got any better, She'd died the following August.

He'd never seen his dad cry before; well, not _really_ cry. And he didn't know how to make him feel better, which made him feel even worse.

He was worried. He didn't understand what his dad meant when he said his mum wasn't coming home. Was his dad going to leave too? His mum had been crying a lot lately, and now his dad was crying a lot. What was he supposed to do if his dad left too? He was only a kid; he wasn't even at school. He couldn't take care of himself. He didn't know how to use the stove, and he was only allowed to use the oven if his mum or dad was watching him the whole time. What would he eat?

When he'd asked his dad whether or not he was going to leave as well, he'd been assured that he wasn't going anywhere. And he could sleep soundly after that.

It was a while until it happened again. He'd just started high school. And he'd just come to terms with the fact that it wasn't just a phase, that he was, in fact, gay.

Having always had an open relationship with his dad, he knew he couldn't keep it a secret from him for much longer. But he was terrified. Admitting it to himself was one thing, but admitting it to his dad was another thing entirely. He'd heard all the jocks at school, using the words "fag" and "poof" as an insult. What if his dad felt the same way? What if he started calling him those names with that same tone of disgust as the bullied did at school? What is he was ashamed of him? What if he kicked him out on the streets?

These worries circled around in his head for weeks. They ate away at him until, one day at dinner he just snapped, "I'm gay, Dad."

His dad had just looked at him with a small smile, nodding more to himself than anyone else. "Good to know you've finally caught up."

And then it happened again about six months later. He'd come out at school maybe two months earlier. It had started out as simply just a slushie every other day, and then there was the shoving, and then he found himself lying in the school dumpster, surrounded by yesterday's leftover macaroni and cheese.

This time he didn't think he was going to lose his dad. He thought his dad was going to lose him, because in that moment, he honestly thought he was going to die. He couldn't move. His insides hurt and his head ached and he felt like he was going to throw up.

But he hadn't died. His geometry teacher had heard the jocks laughing about what they'd done, and after checking every dumpster in the school, he had finally found him.

He didn't tell his dad what had happened. He'd just given him an especially long hug that night.

But this time it was completely different. Those other times seemed trivial compared to this. Because this time? This time there was an entirely real and possible chance that he may actually lose his dad. That his dad might die, because he was having a heart attack, and heart attacks do actually kill people.

The next 24 hours passed in a complete blur of tears and anxiety. He remembered calling 911. And then having to follow the ambulance to the hospital. And the a really, really, _really_ long time sitting in the waiting room.

Once his dad was in a stable condition and was settled in a room, they were allowed to see him. They could relax a little, but not entirely. There was still danger and a very real possibility that he could have another heart attack, but for now, they could relax a little.

Offering to get coffees to give himself a chance to clear his head, Kurt set off for the hospital cafeteria. It was already 5:00pm, and it wasn't until that he'd realised he hadn't eaten all day.

He had almost reached the cafeteria, wondering whether he should bring some food back for Carole and Finn, when it hit him.

His body went cold with guilt and he felt tears spring to his eyes as his legs turned weak and he sank down against the wall.

He was supposed to meet Blaine today.

…**.**

**I know, another cliffhanger - I'm sorry!**

**Okay, a couple of things. **

**One, I've only ever been to America once and I was like 10 so I don't remember much and the only shop I remember was Walmart and it was nearly Halloween and it was like WOW, Halloween overload in there. **

**Second, I really wish I could draw because the image of little baby Kurt standing there with his pumpkin would be so freaking adorable. **

**And third, if you wanted to check it out, I wrote a one-shot based off spoilers for 4x04 (if you haven't heard the spoilers and don't _want_ to hear the spoilers, DO NOT READ IT!). It's called **_Not A Dream_** and it's mostly just a whole lot of angst and then a bunch of happiness, so have a read of that if you like.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, leave a review :)**

**Em xoxo**


	9. Part IX

**Okay, so I totally planned on having this chapter up last week, but life got in the way... Anyway, I want to apologise in advance because this chapter is sad and angsty and that's where its always been headed but its just really crap timing that I get up to this chapter just after the most recent episode aired, which I will talk about in my AN at the end, so don't read that if you haven't watched it yet.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

…**.**

He sat there staring at the clock. He'd been doing so for at least half an hour, he knows. He also knows that he much look really odd to everyone else sitting in the crowded cafeteria; sitting there without food, staring blankly at the clock of the far wall. Or perhaps that was quite a normal thing to see in a hospital cafeteria. Perhaps people often come here and stare at the clock, waiting for their loved one to come out of surgery, or waiting for an important phone call. Although Kurt was waiting for neither. In fact, he wasn't waiting for anything; except maybe for a miracle, a miracle that would turn back time so it could be yesterday again.

Bringing the clock back into focus, Kurt noticed the time once more; 5:47 pm.

Coupled with the fact that his dad was lying unconscious in a hospital after having a heart attack, thinking about Blaine actually churned his stomach to the point that he thought he might throw up.

_**FLASHBACK**_

"_So what time did you say you were leaving tomorrow?" Kurt asked from where he was lying on top of Blaine; their bodies chest to chest, toe to toe._

"_At 3:00," Blaine groaned, looking up into Kurt's eyes with a pout on his lips._

"_We usually have lunch at about twelve, so I'll meet you here straight after that. And then we'll have two – whole – hours – together," Kurt said, punctuating his last four words with hard kisses._

_His hands moving up into Kurt's hair, Blaine whispered in complete seriousness, "I miss you."_

"_I'm right here," Kurt chuckled against Blaine's lips._

"_But this time tomorrow," Blaine said, a single tear escaping from the corner of his eye before he could stop it, "I won't be."_

"_Hey! Don't think like that. I'm here now. We'll deal with tomorrow, _tomorrow_," Kurt said, kissing Blaine once more. But there was something different about this kiss compared to all the others they'd shared. There was a sense of urgency and desperation that had previously been missing. Blaine gripped his hip like he was holding him in place, and something about that excited Kurt; the thought that that's where he belonged, in Blaine's arms, making his toes tingle. Without intentionally meaning to, Kurt brought Blaine's lower lip in between his, biting down on it slightly._

_Blaine pulled away with a gasp, "oh my god, _Kurt!_" and then they were kissing again, with more passion than he'd ever thought possible/_

"_Okay, I _really_ need to go now so I'm not late for dinner," Kurt said, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath._

"_Okay. So tomorrow after lunch?" he rolled over slightly so he was still lying down but leaning up on his elbows._

"_Yes. I wouldn't miss it for the world," Kurt said with a smile, peppering light kisses across Blaine's face._

"_Bye," Blaine said shyly from where he was lying, his cheeks flushed and his lips a little swollen, as he watched Kurt walk away._

_**END FLASHBACK**_

"Kurt? Kurt, dude, are you okay?"

Kurt was brought back to reality by Finn's strong grip on his upper arms shaking him.

And then it truly hit him. He wasn't back at _their tree_ and it was no longer yesterday. It was 5:55 pm today. And he hadn't met up with Blaine like he'd promised. And Blaine was leaving at 3:00, which was nearly three hours ago. By now, he'd be halfway back to Westerville already. And Kurt didn't even have his number...

"Kurt, why are you crying? Burt's fine. Your dad's gonna be fine," Finn comforted, sitting on the hard plastic chair next to him.

"Not, it's not Dad," Kurt said, wiping at the tears on his cheeks. "It's – it's Blaine."

"Blaine? Who's Blaine?"

So Kurt told him. He told him about the first day with the washing, and about the Spontaneity Agreement, and all the other times they had met up. He told him everything; except for all of the making out.

"So this random guy kissed you, and you guys hung out for a bit. I don't get why that's making you cry..."

Kurt sighed, his hands slightly shaking, "he left today. He left today and I was supposed to meet with him before he did. But I didn't. Because Dad was here and we were so distracted and it completely slipped my mind. But he was leaving at 3:00 and now he's gone. I don't have his number, and I don't have any way of contacting him. _God_, I don't even know his last name!"

"Kurt! Kurt, calm down. I know he was probably a really great friend and all, but you've got heaps of friends in Lima. And you'll always make new friends-"

"You don't understand! We weren't just friends! We were – I love him. I'm in love with him, Finn!" Kurt all but screamed.

It took a moment, but then it clicked in Finn's mind and he understood. Moving his chair closer, he leant forward to wrap his arms around Kurt's shoulders, and held him there while he sobbed into his shoulder, fisting his hands in Finn's shirt.

…**.**

They arrived back at the cabin just before 8:00, and it was surprisingly still light; it had been raining all afternoon, the lady at reception had told them. His dad was in a stable condition now, so the doctor had suggested they go home and get some sleep, promising to call the moment anything changes.

"Carole, I'm just going to go for a walk," Kurt said only moments after entering the cabin.

"But Kurt, it's raining..."

Kurt faintly heard Finn say,_ Mum, just let him go_, before he walked out the front door. His body knew where he was going before he did, and the next thing he knew he was standing in _their spot_.

He looked around frantically, searching for any sign that Blaine had been here or that he'd left anything behind. There was nothing. Not in the trees or the surrounding grass; nothing.

He fell to his knees, not even caring that the ground was muddy and wet, and for what felt like the hundredth time in the last day, he was reduced to tears.

However, little did he know, that 200 metres away was a note. Though entirely soaked through and slightly teared from where the wind had blown it out of the nook in the tree in which it had been placed, if one looked hard enough, they would be able to make out a phone number and three faded words; _I love you_.

…**.**

**I'm sorry! The angst is terrible I know. Although if you would like a cheering up, I posted a one-shot photographer!Blaine AU titled,**_A Snapshot_**. It's all fluff, so feel free to read if you like.**

**Remember to review :)**

**And below is my opinion on the most recent episode.**

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**OH MY GOD! MY HEART IS BREAKING – OR BROKEN – I DON'T KNOW! I JUST KNOW THAT IT HURTS. AND OUR POOR BABIES :( I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT BLAINE WOULD CHEAT ON HIM. I JUST CAN'T. WHAT HAPPENED TO: IF YOU'RE LONELY, TALK TO ME, BUT DON'T CHEAT?! BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, WHYYYY RYAN MURPHY?!**

**Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (_review if you did!_). And if you wanna rant or cry or scream with me you can PM me, or visit me on tumblr at: emlovessid . tumblr . com**

**Em xoxo**


	10. Part X

**Hello all!**

**So to start off, my first exam is over! YAY! Being an oral exam for my second language, I was so nervous that I actually thought I was going to vomit or poop my pants or something equally as embarrassing! But I did not, and gosh am I relieved that it is over :) so as a reward to myself and for all of you lovely people for deciding to stick around, I decided to update today!**

**Also, I know all of the other chapters have been from Kurt's perspective, but I figured it was about time we saw a little bit of what was going on in Blaine's head.**

**Enjoy :)**

…**.**

Looking out the window, the sky seemed gloomier, the flowers less bright and the grass a dull shade of green; appearing somewhat similar to what his insides felt like.

"Are you alright, Blaine?" his mum said quietly from the front seat of his dad's black sedan.

Turning his head to meet his mum's concerned glance, Blaine replied, "yeah, Mum. I'm fine, just a little tired."

"Okay, sweetie. But if you want to talk about anything, just let me know."

Nodding, Blaine answered, "will do. Thanks, Mum."

As much as he wanted to take his mum up on her offer, to curl up in her arms and cry as she soothingly ran her fingers through his curls, he couldn't. Not with his dad in the car, anyway. While he was entirely accepting of him being gay, Blaine was certain that the reality was still clouded over by his dad's hope that it was just a phase that would pass in time. So while he accepted him, he was sure that breaking down about Kurt in front of him would be crossing the line.

That morning he had felt like the happiest man alive, and now? Now he just felt like he wanted to die.

He remembered the way that his mum had been looking at him that morning while he was buttering his toast, humming the tune of "Teenage Dream" under his breath.

"You're awfully happy this morning. Excited to go home?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. I dunno, I just woke up happy this morning," Blaine said, facing away from his mum; he knew without a doubt that if she saw his face, she would know he was lying. "Do you mind if I go an hang out near the river today?"

"No, that's fine. Just be sure to be back by three." As she was walking out of the room, she paused in the doorway. "You've been going down to the river a lot this week..."

"I found a really nice spot down there. It's nice to just sit there and relax-"

"Blaine. I'm your mother. Don't think I can't tell that that smile you've had plastered on the face all week is not just a _I found a nice spot down near the river_ smile. It's the same smile you always had when you were friends with Tommy in Junior High."

"Mum! Why do you always have to bring him up? I liked him for, like, a _week!_"

All it took was her raising her eyebrow before he gave up, "fine! There is a boy. I met him at the start of the week and I really, really like him, okay?"

So it was with a knowing look from his mum that Blaine left the house just before twelve, picnic rug in hand.

It wasn't until maybe one o'clock that he started to get worried. At first he'd thought that perhaps Kurt was just running late, that lunch had been later than he'd expected. But an hour late? That seemed so unlike Kurt, especially when he had been so eager about today. However, when another half hour passed and there was still no sign of him, Blaine decided he'd better go and check at Kurt's cabin, just to make sure he was okay.

He knocked on the front door once; and then twice; and then a third time. When he still received no answer, he walked around to the side of the cabin. Despite knowing how creepy it must be, he stepped up onto the rock just below the window and peered into what was Kurt and Finn's current bedroom. Other than the fact that it was a little messier than when he had last seen it, everything looked normal; both the single beds with the covers thrown aside, clothes strewn across the room.

To say that Blaine was confused was an understatement. Kurt had been so excited yesterday. Why would he not show up if he had been that excited?

Ignoring the lump in his throat and the knots he could feel being pulled ever tighter in his stomach, Blaine walked back to the picnic rug with his head hung low. Pulling his knees to his chest, he wrapped his arms around himself and waited. Waited for someone he knew wasn't going to show up.

Once he began to feel raindrops falling on him, he realised he couldn't wait forever. It was almost three o'clock, and his parents had been very specific about what time they were to leave. Standing up from where he had been huddled for the past hour, Blaine reached into his backpack, retrieving from it a notepad and a pen. After writing down his phone number, Blaine hesitated, wiping at the tears falling down his cheeks before writing the words that had been stuck at the back of his throat all day; _I love you_.

…**.**

**I'm sorry that it's so short, but I really wanted to finish it there. Anyway, despite the angst and poor heartbroken Blaine, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Last week I posted a oneshot called **_Six Degrees of Separation_**. I wrote it in response to episode 4, and while it is kind of super angsty, I promise it has a happy ending – so check that out if you like!**

**Thanks for reading, and remember to REVIEW!**

**Em xoxo**


	11. Part XI

**ONLY ONE MORE WEEK GUYS!**

**Hello, so I have finished 3 out of my 4 exams and my next one isn't until Wednesday so I have a bit of a break and decided that you lovely people deserved an update - yay! I have to admit that I'm not super duper happy with this chapter, but I need a couple of chapters to fill in some gaps, so hopefully you like it!**

**ENJOY :)**

…**.**

He didn't tell his dad about Blaine. Sure, he probably knew that something was up, but Kurt couldn't tell him. He couldn't stress him out, not after his heart attack. His dad's health came first, his own heartache second. He'd made Finn promise not to tell either his dad or Carole, when they were laying awake in bed the night after Kurt had had his breakdown in the hospital cafeteria. If he told his dad, his dad would stress out about him. If he told Carole, she would tell his dad without a doubt, and his dad would stress. So neither of them could know.

However, as easy as it sounded, it wasn't. The first few days were okay, his worry about his dad distraction enough. But then he was up in bed and talking, and then he was released from hospital, and then they were heading home. So other than his dad not being back at work yet, it was as if everything was the same as it always had been; just with a diet comprised of less salt and fat and more vegetables.

Even though this relieved him to no end, it finally gave Kurt enough time and enough energy to move his thoughts to Blaine. However, soon he became all that he could think about and it was beginning to take its toll; the thoughts and the 'what if's eating away at his insides and keeping him awake into the crazy hours of the night.

On his first day back at school, just over a week after Burt had been released from hospital and they'd returned home, his friends could tell that something was up; Mercedes in particular.

"You okay?" she asked him quietly during lunch, bumping his knee with hers.

Looking into her worried eyes, he said with a small smile, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"You sure? Is this about your dad?"

"Yes. And no..." Kurt shrugged his shoulders half-heartedly, pushing his food around his plate with his fork.

"Does this have anything to do with that mysterious curly-headed boy who kissed you and swept you off your feet?" Mercedes whispered, her voice tinted with laughter.

"Yeah," his smile faltering. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm just not really in the mood to talk about it right now."

"Well, I'm here when you want to."

…**.**

"So, I was talking to Finn earlier," Carole prompted as her and Kurt were washing dishes one night later that week. When Kurt remained silent, intent on drying the dinner plate in his hands, Carole continued. "I know that something is bothering you, and at first I thought you were just worried about your dad, but now I'm not so sure. I know that Finn knows something that you're not telling me. And that's perfectly fine, if you want to confide in him. But when I asked him about it he said that I should speak to you, because it wasn't his place to say. I'm worried about you Kurt, and I'll understand completely if you don't feel comfortable talking to me about it. Just know that I _am_ here for you, if or when you want to."

By this point, neither of the pair were washing the dishes anymore.

"Do you promise not to tell, Dad?" Kurt said, turning to Carole with tear-filled eyes. "I don't want him worrying about me. It's not good for his heart!"

"Of course, sweetie. It'll just be between us, I promise," she said, removing her gloves and taking the damp tea towel from Kurt's hands. "C'mon, let's go and sit on the couch. Your dad's upstairs showering."

Once they were seated on the couch and Kurt began to talk, he couldn't stop; all of his bottled up feelings finally coming to the surface.

"When we were away, I met a boy His name was Blaine and he was so sweet and kind and beautiful and he was such a gentleman and _he kissed me_, Carole! He _kissed_ me! A handsome and amazing and wonderful man kissed me and it was everything. I _know_ this is going to sound so ridiculous and you're probably going to tell me that I'm crazy, but after we met up almost everyday and played mini golf and had a picnic and _kissed a bit more_ -" he said the last part in a whisper, feeling embarrassed at speaking to his step-mum about this, "and I – well – I fell in love with him. I fell in love with a boy I only knew for a week. _One week!_"

A small smile on her lips, Carole said, "It doesn't sound crazy at all. It sounds romantic."

"Well, I was going to meet up with him on his last day at the park and we were going to exchange phone numbers and organise how we would keep in touch, but then Dad had his heart attack the night before and he left and I wasn't there to meet him! He probably waited there all afternoon and I didn't show up and he probably thinks I hate him. And now I don't know how to contact him! Kurt was openly crying by now, his breaths coming out as short gasps and his heart beating loud in his ears.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," Carole said, feeling as though her own heart might break at seeing her step-son so distraught.

As he laid down, tucking his legs under himself and resting his head on her lap, Carole ran her hands through his hair, remembering how she used to do the same for Finn when he was upset. It was only a few minutes later when she heard Burt making his way down the stairs. Being careful not to move around too much, she met Burt's worried gaze and questioning brow with a sad smile and a small shake of her head.

Kurt needed a mum right now.

…**.**

**Awwwwwwww poor little Kurt D:**

**I hope you enjoyed it! If you are interested and are in need of some cheering up, feel free to check out some of my oneshots (I wrote a moulin!klaine one yesterday and its all love and happiness and needy kisses!)**

**Please review and let me know what you thought :)**

**Em xoxo**


	12. Part XII

**Sorry. That's all I'm gonna say.**

**Oh my god, sooooo much has happened since my last update; finished school, finished exams, graduated, got my results (OMG SO HAPPY!), am now (kind of, maybe, I'm not really sure?) going out with this guy from work, and it's 2013!**

**To the point, sorry for keeping you waiting, thanks so so so much for sticking with this story, and here's the chapter! :)**

**...**

_**ONE MONTH, TWO WEEKS AND SIX DAYS LATER...**_

"Finn, I swear to God if you don't turn that down I'm going to strangle you!" Kurt screamed at the wall that divided his own room from his step-brother's.

As step-brothers who didn't become step-brothers until they were already in their teens, they'd never really gone through the 'hating each other' phase that was expected between most siblings. In fact, if Kurt was being honest with himself, they didn't really feel much like siblings at all. Even though they lived together, it kind of just felt like Finn was a friend who was staying with them for a while; except instead of just a little while, it was forever. But generally they acted no differently with each other than they would if they were hanging out with Sam or Puck or Mercedes. Except at times like this.

Everyone always spoke about how hard and how stressful senior year was, and Kurt had always found that hard to believe, thought they were just exaggerating to scare the juniors a little. However it was only his second week in and Kurt had been dumped with so much homework that he was starting to think that maybe they hadn't been speaking so far from the truth after all.

So when Finn finds the need to play his Playstation games at full volume while Kurt is trying to finish his essay for English Literature, Kurt forgets about the fact that they don't normally behave like normal brothers.

"Finn!"

"What?!"

"Turn. It. Down!"

Kurt closes his eyes and counts to ten slowly, listening carefully for any sound that Finn has actually listened to him. Once reaching ten, even after resorting to "nine, nine and a half, nine and three quarters", Kurt slams his book shut and bangs a fist on the wall twice.

"If you don't turn that down in the next fifteen seconds I _will_ tell Dad and Carole about how you let Rachel sta-"

It seemed that Kurt's tactics had worked well however, as he didn't even need to finish his threats before Finn was throwing open his door.

"You wouldn't dare!" Finn said, appearing torn between being angry or terrified.

"Wouldn't I?" he smirked.

"C'mon dude, you promised you wouldn't!"

"I did, but that was before you refused to turn down the bloody volume on your game while I'm trying to study! Do you realise how hard it is to study with the constant sound of shooting in the background? Oh, of course you wouldn't, _because you never study!_"

"Seriously? I never told Mum and Burt about you sneaking out to go make out with that Blaine-guy at the caravan park!"

"Wha- but you were asleep?" Kurt whispered at the same time as the voice of his dad from outside his bedroom door said, "you what?!"

If Kurt had thought that he hated his step-brother thirty seconds ago, it was nothing compared to what he felt in that moment. Anyone who knew Kurt knew how terrifying he could be when he was mad; Finn included. Which explained why the moment he caught sight of Kurt's glare his demeanour changed almost instantly, attempting to shrink out the door while Burt was focused on the situation at hand...

"Stop right there, Finn," Burt said as he noticed Finn's try at escaping. "What were you talking about? Who's this Blaine kid?"

"Uh, oh that? That was nothing, just me 'n Kurt mucking around, like brothers do," Finn stuttered, wiping his palms on the legs on his shorts nervously.

"Nothing, hey?" Burt raised his eyebrow, then moved his gaze to Kurt, who sat on the edge of his bed staring intently at his socked feet. "You wanna tell me what he's talking about?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly sneaking out, because it wasn't planned and I didn't purposely not tell you it was just that it was late at night and you and Carole were sleeping. And I _was not_ making out with him," Kurt said with a glare aimed at Finn, "we just talked, okay?"

"Woah woah woah, hold up a second. Who's _he_?"

"Uh, he is Blaine. A guy I made friends with at the caravan park while we were away. Can you two leave now? I'm kind of trying to study here..."

Burt nodded his head at Finn, who practically skidded out into the hall and then back into his room with a slam of his door. However, instead of turning to follow him as Kurt had expected, Burt shut the door and stood facing Kurt with crosses arms.

"So this Blaine kid...is he who was getting you so upset since we got back? And don't bother lyin'."

"Well, yes, but it wasn't his fault. It was just a bit of a misunderstanding. But everything's fine now, so there's nothing for you to worry about. Okay?"

"Okay," he said unsurely. "But you still snuck out, and I don't care whether you planned it or not. So for that, you're grounded. For two weeks."

"Dad! Two weeks? Can't I just help out at the shop or something instead?"

"Fine. Two nights a week, for a month. Deal?"

"_Yes_, deal."

…

"For a _month_?" Mercedes gasped.

"Mhmm," Kurt hummed, moving the phone from his left ear to his right. "At first he was just going to outright ground me, though, so I'm not too upset with this alternative."

"True. So, no news from Blaine?"

It had taken him a few weeks before he'd opened up to Mercedes about Blaine, but eventually he had to tell her – he'd never been good at keeping secrets from her.

"Nope. But like I said, he probably hates me because he thinks I stood him up. Which is probably why he didn't leave me with his number or an address or anything. I mean, surely he would've known that if he left something there – a note or a book, maybe – that I would've found it. I guess I can understand why he wouldn't though. If he'd stood me up I wouldn't want anything to do with him."

"That's not true and you know it, Kurt Hummel. You are so smitten with this boy that he could run you down with his car and you'd still crawl back to him with your heart-eyes," Mercedes laughed.

"Gosh, getting a little graphic there, Mercedes!"

"I'm sorry, but you know what I mean."

Kurt sighed, "unfortunately I do." After a few moments of silence, Kurt spoke again, "anyway, duty calls. I have to go help Dad – day 1 of my punishment. I'll chat to you later."

"Sure thing. Don't work yourself too hard. You've got to keep yourself in good form for your's and Loverboy's reunion."

"Haha, okay. Bye."

…

**TA-DA! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this and I promise (hopefully) that the next update won't come with such a wait. Please review and let me know what you thought!**

**EM xoxo**


	13. Part XIII

**See? I told you I wouldn't make you wait as long for the next update :)**

**Not much else to say, but just thought I might warn you all that this story will soon be coming to a close :( BUT NOT TO WORRY, I have just started a new fic called "The Line" which will be a childhood!klaine fic. So far I've only posted the prologue, but go over to my profile and have a read it you like!**

**Anyway, enjoy! (I promise you this chapter actually has a plot that you may find exciting...)**

**p.s. I know zilch about cars so please excuse any mistakes...**

…

Throughout his career as a mechanic, Burt Hummel had been witness to some really idiotic people. Over the years he'd had to deal with grumpy men who, insistent that they knew what they were doing when it came to cars, manage to do more harm than good in their attempts to fix the problem themselves. And young teenagers who drive around like dickheads and wear out their tires or blow a fuse. And women who, even if their life depended on it, didn't know how to change their oil or jumpstart the battery.

For Burt Hummel, today had been one of those days where every single customers who walked through the front door of his garage could be classified under at least one of those categories of idiotic people. It's on days like these that, after he has closed, Burt sits behind his desk and rubs his temples; glad that another day of having to deal with idiots is over.

It was after dinner, when Burt was sitting down on the couch watching the game with Finn, when Kurt called out to him from the other room.

"Dad? Phone!"

Sighing, Burt called back, "who is it? I'm watching the game..."

Popping his head around the corner, Kurt shrugged and replied, "Someone calling for _Hummel Tyres and Lube_."

"At this hour? Bloody hell..." he grumbled as he got up from the couch. "Who calls for a mechanic at 11.00 pm on a Thursday night, hmm?"

…

"How about _Defying Gravity_? Even though I am still a little bitter about you beating me in that sing-off, you were amazing," Kurt offered.

For the past half hour Kurt had been on the phone to a frantic Rachael, who was freaking out about what song to sing for the school musical auditions; even though a musical hadn't even been announced yet.

"Or _Don't Rain On My Parade_? I know you said everyone has already heard you sing it, but I've never heard you sing a song better than that. You couldn't go wrong with that -"

"_Kurt, could you please answer the phone?!"_ Kurt heard Carole call out from the kitchen.

"Yeah!" he called back. "Hold on a second, Rachael, the home phone is ringing..."

Leaving his mobile on his bed, Kurt ran into the other room and picked up the phone, "hello?"

"Uh, hi – is this Hummel Tyres and Lube?"

"Oh, I'll just get my Dad for you. Hold on a sec...Dad? Phone!"

As he walked down the stairs to the lounge room where his dad was watching tv, he heard Burt call back, "who is it? I'm watching the game!"

Popping his head around the corner, Kurt shrugged and replied, "Someone calling for _Hummel Tyres and Lube_."

"At this hour? Bloody hell..." he grumbled as he got up from the couch. "Who calls for a mechanic at 11.00 pm on a Thursday night, hmm?"

Re-entering his room and closing the door behind him, Kurt picked up his phone, "okay, I'm back!"

…

About an hour later, Rachael had settled on _Don't Rain On My Parade_ and had to hang up so she could "practice".

And while he too should be watching tv or reading a book or sleeping – considering he _does_ have a History test tomorrow morning - Kurt was currently making sandwiches. Why, one might ask? After his dad had gotten called down to the shop, he'd called saying that whoever had brought their car in would be coming back with him. Apparently their car was royally screwed, and considering it hadn't stopped raining in the past 48 hours and Burt wouldn't be able to fix it until he picked up a part tomorrow morning, he needed a place to stay.

So here Kurt was, at nearly midnight on a school night, making finger sandwiches for some person he'd never met.

"How long do you think Dad will be?" Kurt asked Carole who was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper.

Glancing down at her watch, Carole replied, "he shouldn't be too long. He said half an hour, and that was nearly twenty minutes ago... Did you want some help with the sandwiches?"

…

Burt caught sight of the customer as he pulled into the street the shop is on, the guy's car – despite looking quite new – parked on the curb with smoke billowing out from under the bonnet, quickly turning into mist amid the heavy rain.

Pulling into the garage, Burt ushered the customer inside.

"Thank you so much for coming out so late. Especially in this rain!"

"Ah that's fine, so what's the problem?"

At a closer look, his customer was far younger than he pictured when speaking to him on the phone. While he was dressed like an established man in his twenties, his face was young; his hair – wet from the rain – hung over his eyes. His clothes, however, were soaked through entirely.

"I don't really know, sorry. I've never been great with cars. I was just driving and then _BAM_... the car kind of shook and I was only just able to make it here before it shut off completely. Luckily I was just around the corner."

"I'll have a look then. Could you give me a hand pushing it in here?"

Once the car was in the garage, Burt popped the hood and got to work. "So what were you doing driving around this late at night? You look kinda young..."

"Oh, well I was a little bit lost, to be honest. The rain didn't help," the boy chuckled. Then, nodding towards the car, "do you think you can fix it?"

"Yes, just... not now. Your compressor's busted. It's an easy fix, but I don't have the parts right now. You know what, you come with me back to my house; you can have a shower and a bite to eat, and then in the morning you can come with me and we'll go pick up the parts?" Burt offered, wiping his hands on a rag and closing the bonnet.

"Really? I wouldn't want to intrude..."

"You wouldn't be. Come on, kiddo."

…

"Hey, Kurt! You got those sandwiches ready?"

Listening to the shuffling of footsteps and then the front door closing, Kurt called back, "yeah Dad, they're in the kitchen."

"...my son, Kurt. He's a great cook; definitely didn't get that from me..."

Placing the plate of sandwiches down on the table, Kurt turned when he heard the voices entering the room. When he turned around fully, however, he was frozen to the spot.

…

**AND I BROUGHT BACK THE GOOD OL' CLIFFHANGER! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you don't hate me too much right now. Please _REVIEW_ and let me know what you thought, or any speculations that you have.**

**Em xoxo**


	14. Part XIV

**Sorry about the wait again...**

**In other news, I got into my first preference for university this year yay!**

**Enjoy :)**

…

He couldn't believe his eyes. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe.

No. Scrap that.

He _could _breathe, he just didn't want to. By holding his breath he could convince himself that time too would stop; and he really wished it would right now. Because by being able to stop time ticking right in that moment, he would be able to give himself time to wrap his head around the situation before him. He could just stop, take a deep breath and be able to think clearly. He could sit down in the lounge room with a cup of tea and mull it all over. He could even go for a walk around the block. But no. Despite how much he willed it to be possible as he stood there in the kitchen with his eyes clenched shut, holding his breathe would not freeze time; not even for a moment.

His mind was still running a thousand miles a minute when he opened his eyes. While his dad was fussing about in the kitchen making a coffee, Blaine stood frozen in the doorway to the room in a state of shock which he could quite accurately guess mirrored his own. In that moment Kurt knew for sure that he was not hallucinating.

With that knowledge in mind, Kurt was actually able to begin to process everything.

He was almost entirely soaking wet; the only dry part of him his coat, which Kurt recognised as one of his dad's spares from the shop. His curly hair was still dripping and his body was slightly hunched in on itself as though he were trying to shield his body from the cold. But despite his overall appearance, what shocked Kurt the most was his eyes, sheltered by his furrowed eyebrows in worry. His eyes expressed a mixture of exhaustion and confusion and hope, but most heartbreakingly, sorrow. Staring into his eyes was like holding a conversation, all of his unanswered questions hovering under the surface. _I don't understand. Why are you here? Why am _I_ here?_

"Here you go, buddy," Burt broke the silence, walking up to Blaine with a mug of hot coffee. "Drink this and then go on and have a shower. Second door on the right; I'll leave some clothes just outside the door for you."

"Thank you so much, Mr Hummel. It means so much to me, you letting me stay here," Blaine said thankfully, warming his hands on his mug.

"Don't worry about it. Now drink up and have a shower before you freeze to death."

…

Sitting at his desk in his room, Kurt tried to finish his report for History, but the sound of running water two rooms down and the knowledge that it was Blaine – _Blaine_, whom he'd been trying to track down for weeks – that was using it was far too much of a distraction.

He couldn't stop thinking about the look Blaine had had in his eyes earlier in the kitchen. The hurt that was evident there cut through him like a knife, his guilt overcoming him. Because he was the cause of that hurt. He can't even begin to imagine how Blaine must feel, believing that Kurt had stood him up and then had no way of contacting him to even ask him why. At least Kurt knew why they weren't able to meet up on that last day; he didn't have a nagging in the back of his mind asking him what he'd done wrong.

Nor could he wrap his head around the fact that of all the mechanics Blaine could have called, he called _his_ dad. And of all the customers his dad impulsively decided to offer refuge to for a night, he chose _Blaine_. But oh how glad he was. He did wonder, however, why Blaine was in Lima in the first place.

He had wanted to ask him, when they were in the kitchen, but his dad was there and his dad had no idea that he and Blaine knew each other; furthermore, he had no idea whether Blaine _wanted_ his dad to know. So he hadn't asked; in fact, they didn't even share one word.

…

He had only seen Blaine for a brief moment before Kurt had decided he had better get to bed - it was 1:23 am after all and he did have school in the morning – and that had been when he'd said good night to his dad who was sitting in the lounge room with him.

However, despite his exhaustion, he couldn't sleep; how could he?

It was 1:47 am when he heard a quiet knock on his bedroom door.

"Yeah?" he spoke softly, assuming it was his dad.

It wasn't.

Blaine didn't move very far into the room, but stood just inside the doorway. Kurt would not have guessed that he was crying had he not spoken.

"You didn't stand me up?" Blaine said quietly through his tears.

"What?" Kurt whispered.

"You didn't stand me up. I was speaking to your dad and he told me about how you guys were on holiday and then he had a heart attack a couple of days before you left and then had to be rushed to hospital. And that's why you didn't meet me that day." Blaine sniffled.

Pushing his covers aside, Kurt moved to sit on the edge of his bed, facing his door. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you but by the time we got back you'd already left..."

Openly sobbing now, Blaine said, "I thought you'd stood me up. You weren't there and I thought you'd stood me up."

Shaking his head, Kurt couldn't think of any words to say, his heart breaking at the sight. So, he didn't say anything.

He was on his feet and moving before he'd even consciously thought the decision through, his outstretched arms wrapping around Blaine who met him halfway, bringing their lips together in what was a very long overdue reunion. He could feel Blaine's tears on his cheeks and Blaine's fingernails digging into the skin on the back of his shoulders and the heavy pulsing in his ears; all of which reassured him that this was in fact real.

Actually, it felt like coming home.

…

**THERE YOU GO! A little short I know, but that was kind of the perfect place to stop it. I really hope you enjoyed this and YAY MY LITTLE MUNCHKINS ARE BACK TOGETHER! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought.**

**Em xoxo.**


	15. Part XV

**Oh god don't even get me started on how long it's been – I'm sorry. I started university last week, which I'm loving so far! Although I get the feeling that in four weeks time when I have a stack of assignments due, I'm not gonna be loving it so much.**

**Anyway, this is officially the second last chapter to this story :( I'll get all sappy and emotional next chapter but I'm just gonna say now thanks so much if you've stuck with this story even though my updating has been all over the place.**

**So please, enjoy! :)**

**Oh and this pretty much takes off right where the last chapter left off...**

…

_He was on his feet and moving before he'd even consciously thought the decision through, his outstretched arms wrapping around Blaine who met him halfway, bringing their lips together in what was a very long overdue reunion. He could feel Blaine's tears on his cheeks and Blaine's fingernails digging into the skin on the back of his shoulders and the heavy pulsing in his ears; all of which reassured him that this was in fact real._

_Actually, it felt like coming home._

…

"God, I missed you," Blaine whispered, his breath hot in Kurt's ear.

They were standing over near the bed now, close enough that Kurt could feel his comforter brush the back of his knees but no so close that a small nudge would send both of them into a tumbling heap on the bed. Their arms were tangled around each other; gripping upper arms, threading through soft curls, brushing against cheeks.

"Me too," Kurt whispered back, his voice unusually husky. "I honestly didn't think I'd ever see you again. I thought my life would end up like one of those sad movies where the main character gets to spend one amazing summer with the love of their life and then that's it and they have to spend the rest of their life comparing everyone to him but no one even comes close."

"I did too, the last two months I haven't been able to think about anything else. I just kept thinking about ways that I could've stayed or found out where you were or found a way to contact you _somehow_. I mean, I left you a note at the tree, _our tree_, but there were storms that afternoon and the rain probably dissolved it-"

"You left me a note?" Kurt asked, his voice quiet and his bottom lip quivering a little.

Sighing and pulling back a little so that he could look directly into Kurt's eyes, Blaine said, "yeah, I did. I left you my number and I wrote – I wrote _I love you_..."

No matter how hard he could've tried, Kurt would not have been able to keep the tears at bay then. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. I love you, Kurt."

"I do too. Love you, I mean. I love you."

The next thing Kurt knew he was falling backwards onto his bed as Blaine's eager lips attacked his, hands threading into his hair, fisting his own in Blaine's thin cotton shirt, pulling him even closer until almost every inch of their bodies were touching. Time was going so fast but at the same time so slow; their kisses frantic and their minds reeling. Hours could have passed and neither of them would have even noticed, the one single thought one their minds being only that they were together, they had found each other, this was really happening.

"Blaine," Kurt said, intending to gain his attention but instead his voice came out as more of a groan, which prompted Blaine kiss him even more feverishly.

"I love you. I love you. I love you." Blaine whispered like a mantra between kisses; a kiss to Kurt's jaw, to his shoulder, to his Adam's apple, to his lips. "I am _never_ losing you again. Not in a million years."

"You better not," Kurt chuckled, holding Blaine's face in his hands and giving his a hard kiss on the lips before giving his chest a light shove.

"Kurt?" Blaine said, lifting off of Kurt almost instantly. "Did you – did you want to stop?" His worry was evident in his eyes; _had he gone too far, did Kurt does feel as strongly for him, was this a mistake..._

"No, not at all," Kurt smiled, sitting up and running a hand through Blaine's hair, their legs still tangled together between them. "What's your name? Your full name, I mean."

Brows furrowed, Blaine replied, "Blaine Anderson. Well, Blaine _Devon_ Anderson if you want to be picky. Why?"

"I had no way to contact you. I didn't know your last name so all I knew was that your name was Blaine, you lived in Ohio and you were in your school's show choir. That's not much to go on when you're trying to track someone down... Which is why you are going to put your phone number in my phone _right now_ to stop that from happening again," Kurt said, reaching across to his night stand where his phone was sitting.

After Blaine had put his name and number in – complete with a cute little heart after _Anderson_, Blaine said, "I tried to look for you, you know. My brother Cooper told me not to bother, that if you'd stood me up why would you want to see me again. I didn't want to listen to him, so I tried anyway. Which is actually how I ended up here tonight..."

"Wait, you were looking for me tonight?" Kurt asked in awe, feeling the prickle of tears behind his eyes.

"Yeah," Blaine said a little bashfully. "I – well – at first I just searched _Kurt's in Ohio_ but let me tell you, there are a lot of them. But then I remembered you telling me about your show choir so I searched for _school show choir's in Ohio_, which narrowed it down quite a lot. After that I guess it was kind of just a process of elimination, I guess. Some I straight away knew weren't yours; all girl choirs, choirs for the deaf, choirs for kids with disabilities. And then on Tuesday I found a picture of the internet of McKinley High's show choir, the New Directions, and it was you – you were there! I was going to come on yesterday but Wes called an emergency Warblers rehearsal, so then today I drove down here and waited outside of your school hoping to see you. By the time I decided I should head home it was getting late so I stopped off at a diner to get something to eat, and when I finished it was raining and I got lost and then my car broke down and I honestly thought it was one of the worst days of my life. But," Blaine reached out to grasp Kurt's hand and press a soft his to his palm, "then I stumbled upon a garage called _Hummel Tires & Lube_. It was shut, but there was the number on the roller door and then voila! Here I am..."

"You really did all that? Just to find me, even though you thought I didn't want anything to do with you?"

Nodding, Blaine smiled, "Yeah, of course I did."

"I am so madly in love with you, Blaine Anderson."

…

**There you go!**

**Anyway, in regards to the latest episode, can I just say holy jesus lord Come What May was just – I honestly don't even have words for it. I've been listening to it pretty much on repeat all weekend.**

**If you wanna hear me babble more about it, go visit my tumblr: emlovessid . tumblr . com and I promise you'll find more of my fangirling over there. Please review and let me know what you thought, and STAY TUNED - only one more chapter to go :(**

**Thanks for reading :)**

**Em xoxo**


	16. Part XVI

**And here we are, the last chapter :(**

**I'll get all sappy at the end so I'll let you get on with it!**

**Enjoy :)**

**...**

_He could feel eyes on him. Having been bullied so much at school, it was kind of a sixth sense he'd developed over the years; being able to sense when someone was watching him. Even now, when he was sitting in his own bedroom without any danger of being harmed, the feeling of being watched still gave him chills and made his hair stand up on end._

_He turned his head to look over his shoulder at his door, freezing up when he sees Blaine standing in his doorway._

_Standing up to face him, Kurt says quietly, "Blaine?"_

_The look on Blaine's face changed in an instant. Kurt hadn't really been able to pin what it was initially but then Blaine looked furious and upset and hurt..._

"Blaine? _Really? All you have to say is _'Blaine'_?" he whispers angrily, his hands balling into fists at his side._

"_I – yes? Look Blaine, what happened-"_

_But he wouldn't even let Kurt finish his sentence before he was furiously interrupting._

"_What happened? _What happened?!_ You stood me up, Kurt! I don't know what I was thinking, honestly I don't. Cooper always told me that I fall too hard too fast and I'd always been too stubborn to admit that he was right, but god he was! I – I let myself believe that you liked me, that maybe you even lo-" Running his hands through his hair, Kurt could see that Blaine's hands were shaking. "I was stupid and idiotic and naïve and I should've known that it was all too good to be true; that maybe you returned my feelings. But no...you were using me, just like every other god damn person in my life! You sucked me in and then you _crushed_ me."_

"_No, Blaine. I didn't, I swear-"_

"_I don't want to hear your excuses, Kurt. I just want to know _why_. Why did you act like you did, act like you were in as deep as I was, and then just stand me up like that?" Kurt didn't miss the way Blaine's voice broke at the end, a mist in his eyes that Kurt hoped to god wasn't tears._

"_I didn't stand you up, Blaine. At least not intentionally. I wanted to meet you there that day, Blaine, I swear I did. But then my dad and we were at the hospital and I _couldn't_ meet you-"_

"_You know what? I'm not going to listen to this crap. I'm done! I'm done thinking about you and I'm done caring about you. Goodbye, Kurt."_

_And then Blaine was gone and Kurt was falling to his knees, gasping as he tried to catch his breath through his tears._

Kurt awoke with a gasp, his clothes feeling too tight and his lungs too small. Wiping away the sweat that had broken out on his forehead, Kurt startled again at the sound of a muffled groan to his left. Rolling over, the panic resting in Kurt's stomach settled immediately, as a large grin broke out across his face.

Laying next to him, still dressed in the old clothes of Finn's that his father had lent him, was Blaine. Looking down and realising that he too was still dressed and they were laying atop the covers, he realised that they must have both fallen asleep. Blaine's mouth was slightly ajar and his hair was as messy as Kurt's ever seen it. Blaine's right arm was curled in to itself, resting on his chest, while his left was stretch out across the bed as though it was searching for something; _for him_.

Lifting Blaine's outstretched arm, Kurt shuffled over on his bed before putting Blaine's arm around his waist. At the contact, Blaine's arm tightened around him, grasping the back of his shirt and pulling him closer.

The last thing Kurt remembered doing before falling asleep again was pressing a soft kiss to Blaine's collarbone.

It was light outside when Kurt woke up next. At some point in the night he'd rolled over, however Blaine's arm was still wrapped securely around him, his breath warm on the back of Kurt's neck.

"Mmghm," Blaine mumbled a few minutes later, stirring a little. "Did we fall asleep?"

"Yeah, we did," Kurt smiled as he felt Blaine press a kiss to his shoulder.

"I know I said it a lot yesterday but I really missed you."

Sighing happily, Kurt replied quietly, "me too."

"And I love you."

At this Kurt turned around to face Blaine, "I love you too...anyway, you should probably get back downstairs before my dad wakes up and comes searching for you."

"Mmm yeah, he was so nice to me, letting me stay here, and I'd hate for him to think I was taking advantage of that by getting into bed with his only son. That's make things just a tad awkward," he said with a laugh.

It was another half hour before they actually did move, and in good time too, as it was only a mere ten minutes after Kurt had given Blaine a parting kiss in his doorway - _"I'll miss you" "Shush you, I'll see you downstairs in like half an hour"_ - that Burt was up and heading to the kitchen to make coffee, popping his head in Kurt's room on his way.

"Morning kiddo! Sleep well?"

Kurt prayed that his dad didn't notice his soft smile and slight blush as he replied, "yeah, great actually!"

Kurt came downstairs about fifteen minutes later, noting it was 7:00 and he needed to get ready for school, to find his dad and Blaine sitting at the table eating toast.

"Morning Blaine..." Kurt said, opening the fridge to pour himself a glass of juice.

Blaine gave him a small nod and a quiet, "morning", however Kurt didn't miss the slight smile Blaine was struggling to keep off his face.

Standing up, Burt said, "anyway, I'm gonna go have a shower but after that you ready to head back to the shop and fix that car of yours?"

Swallowing his mouthful, Blaine replied quickly, "yes, sir. Whenever you're ready. And I don't know how to thank you enough for letting me stay here last night."

"Not a problem."

As soon as he heard the bathroom door upstairs close and the water running, Blaine was up on his feet, smiling against Kurt's lips as he gave him a short and sweet kiss. "Good morning. Again."

"Good morning to you too."

"You know, your dad asked me this morning how I'd slept last night...and he seemed a little shocked when I told him I slept _really good _because apparently your couch is super uncomfortable," Blaine laughed.

"Yeah, it really is. Falling asleep on it is a bitch to my back."

Reaching out to entwine his fingers with Kurt's, Blaine said, "Your dad came to the decision that my escapades in the rain last night had exhausted me and that's why I slept so well. Little does he know..."

"I still can't believe you turned up here last night. I honestly thought that I was going crazy and having hallucinations when you appeared in my kitchen. And as much as it was horrible that your car broke down and you were stuck out in the rain and probably got a cold from it all, I'm really glad it happened, and that you found my dad's shop."

"I'm glad too. So so glad. Anyway, I'm going to be leaving with your dad soon, but I wanted to ask you something first before I go." Pressing a kiss to Kurt's fingertips, Blaine continued, "...would you, Kurt _Hummel_, like to go on a date with me tomorrow night?"

"Why do you seem so nervous? Yes! Of course I will, yes yes yes!"

"Oh thank god, I was worried for a moment there that you'd turn me down," Blaine exaggerated with a laugh.

"Did you honestly even think for a moment that I would say no?"

"I didn't no."

"Good. Because I promise you, you have nothing to worry about. You're kind of stuck with me now."

"Well you'll hear no complaints from me."

It was probably about an hour later, after Blaine had left with his dad - with promises of "I'll see you tomorrow" and "I can't wait" - that Burt returned, just as Kurt was walking out to his car to leave for school.

"He's the guy, isn't he?"

Leaning against his car door, seeming physically unable to stop his smile, Kurt replied without hesitation, "Yeah, he's the guy."

…

**THE END!**

**I just want to say a huge huge thank you to **_Teegybee_** for giving me the initial idea for this story and for putting up with my infrequent updating and cliffhangers, and for helping me out a bunch of times when I had no idea where to go with this.**

**And a HUGE GIGANTIC MASSIVE thank you to every single one of you who has read this and reviewed this and I really do hope you've enjoyed this.**

_**(Wow, it feels like I'm giving an Oscar speech or something.)**_

**While it's the end of this story, don't fret because I'll still be around (here and on my tumblr - **emlovessid**). I'm currently working on a childhood au called **_The Line_** which I've already posted the prologue of and am now planning out the chapters, and I've also started a college au verse, which I've already posted a few pieces for. So feel free to check those out but if not, I hope you've enjoyed this!**

**And I'm not normally one to ask for reviews, but seeing as this is the end, how about we see if we can get this up to 100 reviews? :)**

**Until next time,**

**Em xoxo**


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